I have a friend who has shown interest in getting a domain name for their birthday recently. I'm wondering if it's a good idea or not, and what to get if I decide to go with this idea.

Has anybody here ever given somebody a domain name as a gift? What did you end up giving them?

I have given domain names in the past for gifts.
Usually a 5 year registration of that persons own name or something related to a hobby of theirs.

that is a great idea ,, give them something that they are interested in like gaming , or a forum they can own, anything

Five years sounded like a lot to me at first, but the more that I think about it, that's not a bad price to pay for a gift, and especially for one that will last five years. Most of my birthday presents are long gone by this point.

Five years sounds like a great idea if you can come up with a really great domain name. Otherwise I might be mroe inclined to see if I could purchase a gift certificate to a registrar instead so they have only themselves to blame if the domain isn't what they really wanted.

Sounds like a nice present.

I think 5 years sounds great but the only thing I would be leary of is when it is time for renewal, whose credit card gets the bill? If it is allowed to lapse then the gift is gone. Has anyone run into this problem before? I don't mind giving a gift but talk about the gift that could keep on giving (and taking from my bank account).

Chris

Maybe renewing it in 5 years could be another gift.

If that's out of the question, I would just make sure that the domain isn't going to auto-renew itself and charge your card. Maybe that's where the gift certificate would be a good idea?

You have me confused. I thought you were asking the question? Now it sounds as if you're answering yourself

I would just go for the gift certificate thing so that they could get the domain name that they actually want

The only time I have done this is when myself and the person know for sure exactly the domain name they want, and most times its been for baby showers with the person not having their surname already registered.

I never thought about it being a gift for a baby shower. It might be interesting to get somebody a website so they can document the progress their baby is making, or something along those lines.

I did this for my brother, but it turned out that it was me who was more enthusiastic about a domain name purchase

I'm sorry to hear that he wasn't as excited as you Contiloop. I guess it's all about judging the person right. I would think that you definitely can't go wrong with it though. It's definitely something that I would like to do now.

yeah its really cool to have a domain for a gift. Coz today domains are really cheap and you can buy 1 for business and advertissements.

Sound nice idea a .name tld would be better for birthday gift.